Fred Williams never seems to have a shortage of awesome off-road adventures, and today’s episode of Dirt Every Day is certainly no exception. But let’s be honest, the real star of the show is that beat-up, old-but-willing 1967 Ford F-100 Prerunner.

Alas, what’s an action star without a proper nemesis? So Fred picks out the Ford’s perfect foil for an off-road race: a 1989 Volkswagen Vanagan Syncro.

The Ford actually belongs to Williams’ old buddy Frank, who unfortunately broke his neck about seven years ago, and hasn’t been able to do much off-roading in the truck since. Though Frank and Fred had been working on the truck before the accident, it had pretty much been sitting since the accident.

But still, according to Frank, the truck is the “quintessential awesome dessert truck. It has a beamed front end with bypasses and coilovers, a spooled rear-end with bypasses, 429 Ford C6. Just simple, simple, tough truck.” And other than the fact that the roof appears to be held together by a ratchet strap and has trouble starting, he might just be right.

Just the same, the DED team made sure to refresh the big block V8 before the big race against Fred’s Vanagan. And more importantly, they affixed the lifted Ford with hand controls so Frank could operate the vehicle.

As you can see in the vid below, it all makes for one epic off-road pasture battle at the secretive Dirt Ranch.